Why isn't the game played from a first person perspective?

[Realmkeeper]

I also find it kinda funny that people believe that i want the FPS mode to be with AAA graphics. Don't underestimate people. I was thinking more of a Minecraft + cubeworld + Imscared type of voxel graphics style

That... doesn't make much of a difference.

Sprite-based, or the alternative low-poly, low-detail 3D models in isometric view is vastly less performance hungry than even the simplest first-person shambling zombie.

 

Don't underestimate the difference in complexity of a teensy tiny little man rendered from 8 different directions, to a full-screen 360 degree notice-if-the-thumb's-missing moanign groaning Zed.

[Jago]

I don't know about you, but the reason why I bought Project Zomboid is, that it is isometric and concentrates on survival, instead of PvP or arcade-like hack'n'slash/ and spraying bullet all over the place.

 

An isometric zombie-survival game is something I like more than L4D, DayZ, Dying Light, ZombieU or RDR and that's why I bought PZ and believe that the unique style benefits the game a lot.

 

 

(Off-Topic: I'm really looking forward to a Wasteland2-zombie-mod, anyone else? )

[Ozymandias]

 

Why didn't you just read the earlier thread

 

This question has already been answered by the dev, i don't need your input on it.

 

This is a discussion fourm, discussion takes place with or without you, and you have a very hostile tone which leads me to believe you really DON'T want an answer, or rather you'd like to see the game in 3D and you don't care what the reasoning is behind using an Isometric view.

 

 

 

I also find it kinda funny that people believe that i want the FPS mode to be with AAA graphics. Don't underestimate people. I was thinking more of a Minecraft + cubeworld + Imscared type of voxel graphics style

That... doesn't make much of a difference.

Sprite-based, or the alternative low-poly, low-detail 3D models in isometric view is vastly less performance hungry than even the simplest first-person shambling zombie.

 

Don't underestimate the difference in complexity of a teensy tiny little man rendered from 8 different directions, to a full-screen 360 degree notice-if-the-thumb's-missing moanign groaning Zed.

 

 

From a technical standpoint it takes about as long to render one of those cubes as it does probably 1-4 zombies, depending on how well the rendering engines are created, if you assume there's what maybe 1000+ cubes on screen, 1000-4000 zombies, roughly half of those sprites would be world rendered so we're talking 500-2000 zombies vs maybe 20, 25 max in "cube" 3D.

 

Anyway, that's not the point. 

 

If you disregard the entirety of the technical limitation standpoint on the subject you can also see that it's not just that. A fully viable 3D world is HARD to navigate in first person. Why do you think FPS games have mini-maps, waypoints, compasses, markers, signs, etc. Isometric gives you a fixed sense of perspective and makes it a lot easier to remember and navigate your environment, even if there are some minor issues with interactivity. It also makes it a lot easier to use RPG-like elements in the game. Have you ever played multiplayer and tried to navigate a dense forest with your friend? If it were an actual forest you could probably see right through it and navigate it no problem. But wait, what's this? Your friend can press Q to "shout" and you can "see" where they are even though usually FPS games, even with surround sound, determining the location of where a sound came from can be pretty tough.

 

The isometric viewpoint also allows some creative freedom with how the world works in general. If you're playing a 3D game and the world doesn't interact with you in just the right, realistic real-world based fashion, it removes your sense of immersion with the game and you become easily disillusioned. And while 3D games do allow more "jump scare" the isometric perspective really allows some extra "impending doom" type of dread. Have you ever been locked in a house, surrounded by zombies at all sides pounding on the windows, 50-100 zombies piling up waiting for their turn at you? In a 3D game you don't really see that, at most what you see is the couple of targets you have front and center, everything else is "blocked out."

 

Isometric also helps a lot with menial world-interaction. You know how boring and tedious it would be to try to make a farm by moving your character manually to each square to interact with it? (Try playing Wurm, that's 99% of that game.) It's a lot easier to do when you can click on each tile and have your character automatically path and complete the action for you. It's also a lot easier to display information about all of these different things at once because your character can see them all at once. If you walk up to a corn-field you can only see the front two or three rows of corn. With the Isometic viewpoint advantage, it's more like being in a helicopter surveying the field and viewing it from above, and it really gives you a better picture of what the world is like. This helps the player focus more on what they want to focus on, being survival, and less on tedious labor (we play video games to get away from our work, right?)

 

PS: I have only posted a couple times before, but don't let that fool you. I've been playing PZ for quite a while, and I've been playing my fair share of FPS and Isometic games (since the mid 90's.)

[syfy]

Why didn't you just read the earlier thread

 

This question has already been answered by the dev, i don't need your input on it.

 

 

seriously, if you choose to take a tone like that, either follow the #1 forum rule, Be Lovely

 

or find something else to do.

[Tonkka]

 

 

Why didn't you just read the earlier thread

 

This question has already been answered by the dev, i don't need your input on it.

 

This is a discussion fourm, discussion takes place with or without you, and you have a very hostile tone which leads me to believe you really DON'T want an answer, or rather you'd like to see the game in 3D and you don't care what the reasoning is behind using an Isometric view.

 

 

 

I also find it kinda funny that people believe that i want the FPS mode to be with AAA graphics. Don't underestimate people. I was thinking more of a Minecraft + cubeworld + Imscared type of voxel graphics style

That... doesn't make much of a difference.

Sprite-based, or the alternative low-poly, low-detail 3D models in isometric view is vastly less performance hungry than even the simplest first-person shambling zombie.

 

Don't underestimate the difference in complexity of a teensy tiny little man rendered from 8 different directions, to a full-screen 360 degree notice-if-the-thumb's-missing moanign groaning Zed.

 

 

From a technical standpoint it takes about as long to render one of those cubes as it does probably 1-4 zombies, depending on how well the rendering engines are created, if you assume there's what maybe 1000+ cubes on screen, 1000-4000 zombies, roughly half of those sprites would be world rendered so we're talking 500-2000 zombies vs maybe 20, 25 max in "cube" 3D.

 

Anyway, that's not the point. 

 

If you disregard the entirety of the technical limitation standpoint on the subject you can also see that it's not just that. A fully viable 3D world is HARD to navigate in first person. Why do you think FPS games have mini-maps, waypoints, compasses, markers, signs, etc. Isometric gives you a fixed sense of perspective and makes it a lot easier to remember and navigate your environment, even if there are some minor issues with interactivity. It also makes it a lot easier to use RPG-like elements in the game. Have you ever played multiplayer and tried to navigate a dense forest with your friend? If it were an actual forest you could probably see right through it and navigate it no problem. But wait, what's this? Your friend can press Q to "shout" and you can "see" where they are even though usually FPS games, even with surround sound, determining the location of where a sound came from can be pretty tough.

 

The isometric viewpoint also allows some creative freedom with how the world works in general. If you're playing a 3D game and the world doesn't interact with you in just the right, realistic real-world based fashion, it removes your sense of immersion with the game and you become easily disillusioned. And while 3D games do allow more "jump scare" the isometric perspective really allows some extra "impending doom" type of dread. Have you ever been locked in a house, surrounded by zombies at all sides pounding on the windows, 50-100 zombies piling up waiting for their turn at you? In a 3D game you don't really see that, at most what you see is the couple of targets you have front and center, everything else is "blocked out."

 

Isometric also helps a lot with menial world-interaction. You know how boring and tedious it would be to try to make a farm by moving your character manually to each square to interact with it? (Try playing Wurm, that's 99% of that game.) It's a lot easier to do when you can click on each tile and have your character automatically path and complete the action for you. It's also a lot easier to display information about all of these different things at once because your character can see them all at once. If you walk up to a corn-field you can only see the front two or three rows of corn. With the Isometic viewpoint advantage, it's more like being in a helicopter surveying the field and viewing it from above, and it really gives you a better picture of what the world is like. This helps the player focus more on what they want to focus on, being survival, and less on tedious labor (we play video games to get away from our work, right?)

 

PS: I have only posted a couple times before, but don't let that fool you. I've been playing PZ for quite a while, and I've been playing my fair share of FPS and Isometic games (since the mid 90's.)

 

 

If you would just read the earlier thread, you'd realize that this debate has reached its end, however if you'd like to continue 'yelling at the TV', do as you wish because I'm outta here.

 

I also prefer to speak directly. I don't want people wasting their time writing sentences just to circle around saying something "mean", for me the intent of people being kind to each other is obvious.

[EnigmaGrey]

The discussion has moved past you. That's a fine thing -- let them talk amongst themselves, if you do not want to be apart of this discussion further.

Happy trails, Tonkka.

[Viceroy]

I don't really understand why so many Newbies are so abrasive, At least most of them are nice and less self-centered.

 

Imagine having such a disposition at a new workplace, life must be rather difficult then.

[TheCenturion]

Now this is a thread I can relate to!

 

 

Though I think we should ask the CoD:MW4 developers to switch to isometric. 

 

 

Enigma, stay away from my title plz. 

[Marinus]

Why isn't cheese more like chocolate? It makes no sense because I don't like cheese and I love chocolate..

[Strider]

The player base makes any MP game I guess, and in my experience DayZ draws the worse crowd.  Hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if people still did what they do with insane amounts of zombies.  Luckily, what it lacked for me, I found in PZ, and that I won't complain about that.

 

 

If you take this as a DayZ diss, don't.  I had my fair share of fun with "The Running Simulator".

 

 

I don't think DayZ's crowd is all that bad. It's not as bad as CS or LoL because it DayZ SA doesn't have global chat so they have no way to vent their frustration other than to shoot you.

 

You can diss DayZ all you please. It's not my baby, I just played it. I enjoyed the mod immensely but don't enjoy the SA at all. All of your criticism of DayZ has been fair.

[cookies1]

Why didn't you just read the earlier thread

 

This question has already been answered by the dev, i don't need your input on it.

 

I also find it kinda funny that people believe that i want the FPS mode to be with AAA graphics. Don't underestimate people. I was thinking more of a Minecraft + cubeworld + Imscared type of voxel graphics style

It'd be very hard for me to be immersed in a cube-like world with cube-like zombies in a survival game like Project Zomboid in the same way the current graphics immerse me, that's for sure.

 

Oh, and a future reminder: If all you want is an answer from the devs, consider PM:ing them instead. Forums and public topics are for discussing things.

[MashPotato]

No, please DON'T PM us unless it's something personal or business-related that can't be public (and for business, please email us instead at info@projectzomboid.com). We can't answer everyone's PM'd questions individually.

[MadDan]

 

 

Why didn't you just read the earlier thread

 

This question has already been answered by the dev, i don't need your input on it.

 

This is a discussion fourm, discussion takes place with or without you, and you have a very hostile tone which leads me to believe you really DON'T want an answer, or rather you'd like to see the game in 3D and you don't care what the reasoning is behind using an Isometric view.

 

 

 

I also find it kinda funny that people believe that i want the FPS mode to be with AAA graphics. Don't underestimate people. I was thinking more of a Minecraft + cubeworld + Imscared type of voxel graphics style

That... doesn't make much of a difference.

Sprite-based, or the alternative low-poly, low-detail 3D models in isometric view is vastly less performance hungry than even the simplest first-person shambling zombie.

 

Don't underestimate the difference in complexity of a teensy tiny little man rendered from 8 different directions, to a full-screen 360 degree notice-if-the-thumb's-missing moanign groaning Zed.

 

 

From a technical standpoint it takes about as long to render one of those cubes as it does probably 1-4 zombies, depending on how well the rendering engines are created, if you assume there's what maybe 1000+ cubes on screen, 1000-4000 zombies, roughly half of those sprites would be world rendered so we're talking 500-2000 zombies vs maybe 20, 25 max in "cube" 3D.

 

Anyway, that's not the point. 

 

If you disregard the entirety of the technical limitation standpoint on the subject you can also see that it's not just that. A fully viable 3D world is HARD to navigate in first person. Why do you think FPS games have mini-maps, waypoints, compasses, markers, signs, etc. Isometric gives you a fixed sense of perspective and makes it a lot easier to remember and navigate your environment, even if there are some minor issues with interactivity. It also makes it a lot easier to use RPG-like elements in the game. Have you ever played multiplayer and tried to navigate a dense forest with your friend? If it were an actual forest you could probably see right through it and navigate it no problem. But wait, what's this? Your friend can press Q to "shout" and you can "see" where they are even though usually FPS games, even with surround sound, determining the location of where a sound came from can be pretty tough.

 

The isometric viewpoint also allows some creative freedom with how the world works in general. If you're playing a 3D game and the world doesn't interact with you in just the right, realistic real-world based fashion, it removes your sense of immersion with the game and you become easily disillusioned. And while 3D games do allow more "jump scare" the isometric perspective really allows some extra "impending doom" type of dread. Have you ever been locked in a house, surrounded by zombies at all sides pounding on the windows, 50-100 zombies piling up waiting for their turn at you? In a 3D game you don't really see that, at most what you see is the couple of targets you have front and center, everything else is "blocked out."

 

Isometric also helps a lot with menial world-interaction. You know how boring and tedious it would be to try to make a farm by moving your character manually to each square to interact with it? (Try playing Wurm, that's 99% of that game.) It's a lot easier to do when you can click on each tile and have your character automatically path and complete the action for you. It's also a lot easier to display information about all of these different things at once because your character can see them all at once. If you walk up to a corn-field you can only see the front two or three rows of corn. With the Isometic viewpoint advantage, it's more like being in a helicopter surveying the field and viewing it from above, and it really gives you a better picture of what the world is like. This helps the player focus more on what they want to focus on, being survival, and less on tedious labor (we play video games to get away from our work, right?)

 

PS: I have only posted a couple times before, but don't let that fool you. I've been playing PZ for quite a while, and I've been playing my fair share of FPS and Isometic games (since the mid 90's.)

 

Couldn't have said it better myself, it could have been a legitimate discussion and ended on the first or second page but nooooo. 

[Kajin]

 

The player base makes any MP game I guess, and in my experience DayZ draws the worse crowd.  Hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if people still did what they do with insane amounts of zombies.  Luckily, what it lacked for me, I found in PZ, and that I won't complain about that.

 

 

If you take this as a DayZ diss, don't.  I had my fair share of fun with "The Running Simulator".

 

 

I don't think DayZ's crowd is all that bad. It's not as bad as CS or LoL because it DayZ SA doesn't have global chat so they have no way to vent their frustration other than to shoot you.

 

You can diss DayZ all you please. It's not my baby, I just played it. I enjoyed the mod immensely but don't enjoy the SA at all. All of your criticism of DayZ has been fair.

 

When I was playing the mod, I actually found the player base more pleasant before the global chat was removed. We'd talk and laugh and carry on in the servers I joined. The best moment I experienced in the game at all wouldn't have even been possible without global chat where I told everyone I was out of ammo and being attacked by more zombies than I could handle. Five minutes later a bunch of guys in a helicopter swooped in, machine gunned the zeds away and took me in. It was awesome. After chat was removed was when the players stopped being so friendly and they started killing me more, but then that was just my personal experience.

[Strider]

When I was playing the mod, I actually found the player base more pleasant before the global chat was removed. We'd talk and laugh and carry on in the servers I joined. The best moment I experienced in the game at all wouldn't have even been possible without global chat where I told everyone I was out of ammo and being attacked by more zombies than I could handle. Five minutes later a bunch of guys in a helicopter swooped in, machine gunned the zeds away and took me in. It was awesome. After chat was removed was when the players stopped being so friendly and they started killing me more, but then that was just my personal experience.

 

What is it the video trailer used to say "DayZ - This is your story" or something similar. 

DayZ was always going to be different for every person. I remember global chat mainly on custom maps like Taviana. I remember it mostly being used to try and set traps for the unwitting players.

 

I never trusted it. Besides, I felt it went against what DayZ is. I felt it broke the immersion. You shouldn't - after all - be able to communicate with someone 10 miles away. That's what I think.

 

I think the addition of walkie-talkies in DayZ is nice. 

[Albie]

I love the whole feel of project zomboid. I began playing games on the C64 as a nipper so flashy graphics aren't important to me. The game takes what Xcom did with the iso view and makes for a great play. As said before, too many games jump on the first person shooter bandwagon, it's nice to play a game as refreshing and different as PZ.

[GodWaffle]

As much as I enjoy the isometric view/graphics of this game, I would very much enjoy a more realistic first person game with the same mechanics/concepts.

I would also love a more in-depth looting system, where you would actually open cupboards and drawers and search through them manually, rather than an in-game window.

It is something I would love to see (with a focused singleplayer mode like PZ), and also with Oculus Rift/VR support, that would be amazing.

Of course it will never happen for PZ, but we can hope that someone will do this someday! (And get it right)
 

[deprav]

I would also love a more in-depth looting system, where you would actually open cupboards and drawers and search through them manually, rather than an in-game window.

 

 

That's another matter, but I do think looting should gets some tweaks [and I'm pretty sure the devs talked about a skill for looting]. Presently, when we open a container, our character knows the entirerity of what's in it at the first glance ; but when you open a container for the first time it should only appear as a mess/mass of indistinguishable items and, depending on your character's looting/searching ability, items should appear more or less quickly in the inventory of the container you're searching.

Or maybe even a "Go through the items of the container" action that you'd have to repeat a few times depending on your character's ability.

I know that's completely out of the subject of the OP, I probably should copy/past on a new fresh thread to discuss this.

[as a matter of fact I will]